My daughter is trying to choose between UD Honors Program, UMASS Honors Program and UCONN No Honors Program. UCONN is cheapest as we live in CT.
Costs after scholarships are:
UD - $34K
UMASS - $31K
UCONN - $21K
Just wondering if it’s worth it to pay more to be part of an Honors Program. Leaning towards UCONN as it’s a competitive school and a good price, but any thoughts would be appreciated!
Can be helpful to know major.
undecided - glad they’re all big schools so she can explore.
If my daughter were undecided…I would have gone with the least expensive school…especially if the 3 choices were all great schools and have just about every major imaginable. She did a Summer program at UMASS , she is at UCONN, and we thought Delaware was #1…until we visited…she’s prevet…for large animals…equine minor. Udel only had 5 horses! Did any one campus feel more like home than the other? I wouldn’t worry about Honors…it has its advantages…such as housing, but UCONN is a great school even without it…I think you can be evaluated for it after freshman year. I recall my daughter telling me about an email in regards to that.
Thanks for your reply. We’re pretty familiar with all of the schools. The honors program thing is confusing things, but I think she is leaning towards UCONN. You have a good point about the undecided major and going to the least expensive school. I think the importance of the honors program may be exaggerated too. If she does want to get into that, she could always look into it after she’s at UCONN (like you mentioned).
That’s funny about the horses at UD. I have a friend who’s a vet and specializes in horses - also a UCONN grad.
I’d go with UMassHonors for best value.
Commonwealth Honors is terrific, and ESPECIALLY because she’s undecided Honors will be helpful since she’ll get a personal adviser and classes with top faculty (vs. the typical non honors experience where a random person answers freshmen’s questions and large classes with a TA for discussion section once a week). Priority registration alone is worth its price in gold - she’ll be able to pick classes that really interest her, with the best professors, vs. “regular” freshmen who pick last and may have to take the classes that are left over (either because they’re scheduled at unfavorable times or because the professors isn’t as good as for the others.)
UConn is good but she’ll be one among thousands.
If you can afford Umass Honors out of pocket (income+ savings) plus the 5.5K loan and/or work study on her part, it would be the best value for the money.
My daughter is in a very small program…so she isn’t 1 in a sea of thousands. Don’t know much about undecided at UCONN so I can’t speak to advisors or just being a #…etc. I’m not aware of honors kids at UCONN getting to pick classes before others. Picking spring classes was done by the number of credits earned. Same for the appointment times to pick for fall, which is happening right now. Frosh pick at orientation…so if you get to orientation in May rather than June you won’t have a problem. There is special housing available for honors…brand new…opening in September… it is true that after freshman year at UCONN your housing selection time is 1 St as an honors student. My daughter spent 2 weeks in the new honors dorms at umass during the summer of 2014. The rooms were not any bigger than her dorm now at UCONN…the bathrooms were beautiful and updated…but again same size as UCONN. Many pre vet honors kids are in classes with my daughter…some classes are small…some are large…same professors. Maybe umass is different. As far as some courses of study …some non honors programs /majors at UCONN maybe as highly rated as honors at udel or umass. Each has some highly regarded programs.
While I’d recommend honors if I attending a college that offers them anyway, you’ll have to decide if its worth ponying up an extra $13K/year. Honors colleges offer valuable perks and let kids meet some of the top students at your college. However they are often oversold with glossy pamphlets implying a small LAC has been set up inside the larger university giving an elite private education at the public school price. On this forum you’ll read posters who also say/imply that.
Depending on the program offerings may range from separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. And some of the “honors” offerings may just be a special discussion section of the regular class (at many U’s you meet 2-3x a week in a large class with the prof, then everyone meets weekly in a discussion section with a TA). You really need to dig in to find what a particular school offers.
Keep in mind honors programs typically offer the small classes and hand-picked profs only the 1st two years of college. They can do this because doesn’t take that many classes to come up with a set that will meet the lower-division requirements for most majors. It is rare to find more than a token amount of upper-division classes since the honors program simply doesn’t have enough faculty members to create entire major(s). So the last two years most/all classes are taken with the rest of the students in the regular U’s classes. The teaching of the profs will be geared towards the normal U level, the discussions and student involvement in class will be dominated by the regular students, and so on. Class sizes may balloon, too, if you’re in a popular major.
At UDel, for example, the list of classes offered this spring designed from the ground up for honors is: http://sites.udel.edu/honors/files/2015/11/16S-Free-Standing-24p74zx.pdf Some other classes are turned into “honors” by setting up a discussion session 1x a week with a TA and honors students instead of the regular discussion sessions everyone else attends.
You’ve all been very helpful. Thanks!